


Ghost Story

by havvkeyes



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Implied Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-28
Updated: 2014-04-28
Packaged: 2018-01-21 02:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1534253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/havvkeyes/pseuds/havvkeyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Winter Soldier has never been anything else but a weapon. He was an enigma all until Steve Rogers gave him his name back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghost Story

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote a ficlet on tumblr again and wanted to post it.

_"Then finish it! Cause I’m with you till the end of the line."_

It keeps playing over and over in his head. The sincerity, the pain in the plea. It’s not lost on him, he just frankly doesn’t know what to do.

After leaving Captain Roger’s unconscious body on the shore of the Potomac, he runs. It’s the only thing he’s sure that he can do at that moment. As far as he’s concerned he is a ghost. He was never given a real identity by his handlers, nor does he feel he has earned being called Bucky Barnes. He’s still not sure who the hell Bucky Barnes is. 

So he keeps running. 

* * *

 

 He winds up standing in front of the Smithsonian two days later, gawking at a poster for the new Captain America exhibit. It’s enough to make him curious. Besides, if Hydra finds him he’ll be wiped anyway. So he slips inside quietly. 

As he weaves through the crowds he avoids eye contact, avoids the gawking children and their concerned parents. He finally finds an unoccupied bench in a room playing videos of Captain America and his friends from World War II. 

The one currently on screen shows Steve Rogers standing alongside several other men. They’re laughing and smiling at the camera, All except Steve, who is gesturing to someone out of frame. The Winter Soldier goes absolutely still when Steve pulls a new man into the shot.

The new man has short, clean cut hair, bright eyes and a lively smile. He shakes his head at Steve and mumbles something to the rest of the group. It’s him. Bucky Barnes. 

With that realization comes one of the sharpest pains he’s ever felt. It hurts more than torture and battle, and he’s seen plenty of both. His head is on fire and he bites his tongue hard in an attempt to stifle a yell. 

_He can see him as he turns down the alley, scrawny Steve Rogers fighting off a man who has at least seventy pounds on him. He runs towards the pair, intending to beat his friend’s attacker into next Tuesday._

Suddenly, the scene shifts.

_Now he’s strapped to an operating table in a hydra warehouse. He’s been in captivity for God-knows how long when he hears people yelling from down the hall. There’s banging and the sounds of a fight. Bucky struggles against his restrains to no avail as the sounds get louder and louder. Then, the door bursts open and he sees little—wait a minute—not so little Steve Rogers standing in the door frame. He can see Steve’s relieved expression as he asks “Bucky?”_

The memory shifts one last time as the Winter Soldier burries his head in his hands.

_Now he’s falling. Falling downwards towards his death. The worst part is, he can still hear Steve yelling out for him all the way down. All he wants to do is yell back but the words are trapped in his throat. Then he hits the ground and feels nearly every bone in his body shatter. Why aren’t I dead? He hears himself ask. Bucky lays there for what feels like an eternity, trapped in the winter snow._

He stands up and starts running again. He ignores the annoyed cries of people as he knocks into them and sends several small children flying. He ignores the calls of security guards yelling at him to stop. Steve, he needs Steve.

Steve’s apartment isn’t particularly far from the museum, especially when he’s full on sprinting. 

When he finally gets to the apartment building, he throws the door open and continues running up the stairs, nearly plowing over one of Steve’s neighbors in the process. 

As he reaches Steve’s floor, the Winter Soldier freezes, out of breath for the first time in his memory. He moves wordlessly towards the door, his own arm raised to knock when he stops dead in his tracks.  _He tried to kill Steve repeatedly, and almost succeeded too._ So he slides slowly onto the floor and pulls his knees to his chest. 

He stays like that for a long time, long enough that the memories start flooding back again. He keeps himself silent though, fighting through the pain. 

Eventually, he hears the door open from behind him and he scrambles to get out of the way. 

"Bucky?" Stave gapes at him. 

"I-I know I shouldn’t be here. I- I just-I remembered. I remembered you… Steve."

"Bucky," Steve repeats. Captain America doesn’t say anything else as he cautiously moves towards the other man and pulls him into a hug. Bucky eventually finds himself winding his arms around Steve to hug him back.

"Y-yeah. It’s me Steve."

 


End file.
